At least eight senior players are considering
their Aston Villa futures after details emerged of Gerard
Houllier’s attempts to arrest an alarming slump in the club’s
fortunes.
It is understood several senior figures are disgruntled
enough to be giving serious thought to their futures, including
Gabriel Agbonlahor, Stiliyan Petrov, Richard Dunne, James Collins,
Brad Friedel, Ashley and Luke Young and Stephen Warnock.
Sportsmail can
reveal that, apart from banning mobile phones in the dressing room,
Houllier has imposed severe financial penalties for any breach of
rules and has introduced a procedure for any player wanting to
contact owner Randy Lerner.
Ashley Young
Richard Dunne
Stiliyan Petrov
There is a sliding scale of fines for players who
break the rules. Latecomers for training, meetings or pre-match
gatherings will be fined 10 per cent of their weekly wage for a
first offence, 20 per cent for a second and 30 per cent for a
third.
Any grievances will have to go through Houllier, after he
stipulated that players wishing to speak to Lerner must seek his
permission.
The Villa boss is hoping the crackdown will reverse the
drop in morale that has accompanied the team’s decline in the
Barclays Premier League.
It could backfire, though, with rumblings of discontent
coming from almost the entire first-team squad.
Gabriel Agbonlahor
James Collins
Brad Friedel
Villa are hovering close to the drop zone, and
despondency seems to have deepened since the new rules were
introduced.
According to sources close to the squad, there is
resentment at the changes coming so late in the season, when they
need to stand united to fight relegation, and at being ‘treated
like schoolkids’.
Lerner is backing Houllier but is bound to be perturbed by
further signs of team spirit unravelling at the start of an
eight-game run-in that ends with a trip to Arsenal and a home match
with Liverpool.
Houllier’s brief reign has been beset by problems, with
just six wins from 25 Premier League games leaving Villa one point
above the bottom three.
Frozen out: Luke Young (left) and Stephen Warnock
(right) have seen chances limited under Gerard
Houllier
A disheartened Ashley Young has given up hope of a
Champions League place with Villa and will seek a move to a
top-four club at the end of the season, as revealed in Sportsmail.
Manchester United are leading the chase, with Liverpool
and Tottenham also monitoring the situation.
Agbonlahor and Petrov have both had spells on the bench of
late, while Dunne and Collins were involved in a drink-fuelled
fracas at a health spa.
Chief executive Paul Faulkner reiterated his support for
Houllier, saying: ‘Our best chance of staying up is with
Gerard.’
But the rules have done little to enhance harmony, with at
least two players seeking advice on whether to follow
them.
